BBC Chairman Lord Patten today publicly criticised an extraordinary attempt to gag a Cabinet minister appearing on one of its highest profile current affairs programmes as the Jimmy Savile scandal deepened.

An email leaked to the Daily Mail reveals Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps was warned against raising damaging allegations against the corporation hours before an appearance on Question Time just days ago.

Lord Patten said the email was 'misleading' and expressed in 'unfortunate' language. He said he could understand why Mr Shapps and made a complaint.

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

Share

The complaint from Mr Shapps suggesting
the BBC was trying to quash criticism on its own outlets will heighten
tensions between the corporation and the Government.

A BBC message, sent to the
Conservative chairman on October 11 as the corporation was fighting to
contain the Savile revelations, insisted claims Newsnight had scrapped
an investigation into the affair because of internal pressure were
‘malicious’.

Mr Shapps was told by the BBC’s head
of public affairs Julia Ockenden: ‘No pressure was applied to drop this
investigation. None. To suggest otherwise is to risk impugning the
professional reputation and integrity of a number of journalists.’

She
went on to insist that to suggest the Newsnight expose of Savile was
dropped for any reason other than the claims against the presenter could
not be substantiated was ‘false and very damaging to the BBC and
individuals’.

Any allegation that any evidence had been withheld from police was ‘also damaging and false’, the minister was warned.

The email was sent to Tory party chairman Grant Shapps by Julia Ockenden, head of public affairs at the BBC

The email referred Mr Shapps to a
blog written by Newsnight editor Peter Rippon explaining the decision
not to broadcast claims against Savile.

The BBC has since admitted that key elements of Mr Rippon’s defence were inaccurate.

For
instance, the claim that no evidence was withheld from police has been
shown to be false, since some of Savile’s victims who were interviewed
for the aborted Newsnight investigation had not in fact spoken to
detectives.

Today Lord Patten said: 'I’ve said in
reply to him that if I’d been in his position would have felt much the
same and would have written the same sort of letter.

'I think there are two points he made
in that letter. The first was it’s wrong for the BBC to give a briefing
about its corporate position. I’m not sure I’d agree with that.

'But the fact that it was misleading -
that’s what was wrong. I also think the terms in which it was expressed
were unfortunate.'

Newsnight editor Peter Rippon explained the decision not to broadcast claims against Savile in a blog post

Mr Shapps told the Daily Mail he had
attempted to pass the email to an inquiry being headed by former Sky
News chief Nick Pollard, who has been asked by the BBC to investigate
whether inappropriate managerial pressure was applied to prevent
disclosure of the allegations against Savile.

Incredibly,
however, he said had been told the inquiry was not considering any
evidence from external sources – prompting him to complain to Lord
Patten.

‘I received the email on the evening
that I appeared on Question Time. It was sent just a couple of hours
before the show was recorded, and as a result I did not see it before I
went on,’ Mr Shapps wrote to the BBC chairman.

‘However,
in light of… subsequent admissions made by the BBC concerning Jimmy
Savile and Newsnight, I think it is important to raise the contents of
the email with you.

‘I believe that in light of these admissions, the content of Ms Ockenden's email was misleading; deliberately or otherwise.'

David Cameron said the BBC had 'serious questions' to answer about how Savile (pictured) was able to get away with the abuse for so long

Mr Shapps' letter added: 'I’m
concerned that this amounted to the BBC trying to provide guidance for
an elected representative appearing on a BBC opinion show - guidance
which in the event has turned out to be wholly inaccurate.

‘I
had wished to submit this information for the consideration of the
Pollard Review, but am further concerned that the investigation is not
taking external representations. I hope that you are therefore able to
alert the appropriate BBC review to my concerns.’

Mr
Shapps told the Mail: ‘Given what we now know about this situation,
this email raises further serious concerns about the BBC’s handling of
this affair, even after the facts started to become apparent.’

Senior Tories are furious that Lord
Patten has suggested Culture Secretary Maria Miller was threatening the
independence of the BBC by expressing concern about the way the BBC has
responded to revelations of Savile’s paedophile activities.

MP Sir Roger Gale, a former BBC
journalist, accused the ‘out of touch’ BBC chairman of ‘arrogance’ – and
became the first politician to suggest that the scandal may force the
resignation of both Lord Patten and BBC director-general George
Entwistle.

At Prime
Minister’s Questions, David Cameron said the BBC had ‘serious questions’
to answer about how Savile was able to get away with the abuse for so
long, adding that he did not rule out ‘further steps’ in addition to the
inquiries already under way.

Philip Davies, a Conservative member
of the culture, media and sport select committee, said the email
to Mr Shapps suggested the BBC had been more concerned with protecting its own
reputation than establishing the truth.

‘I’m sure that what Julia Ockenden
sent was what she genuinely believed to be the case, and that was the
message from the senior echelons of the BBC,’ he said.

‘But actually if the BBC had spent
more time getting to the bottom of the situation and less than worrying
about news management, they wouldn’t find themselves in such a mess at
the moment.

‘Their priority in all of this was
reputation management. That’s what I’m afraid was pretty clear from our
session today – that even the director-general has made a pretty
lamentable effort to find out what has gone on.’

The BBC has since admitted that key elements of Mr Rippon's defence were inaccurate

A BBC spokesman insisted the message had also been sent to the other MPs on the Question Time panel, Labour’s Caroline Flint and deputy Liberal Democrat leader Simon Hughes.

‘The BBC’s head of public affairs was simply doing her job of keeping MPs of all parties across BBC issues that could come up on the programme. As we have clarified, the BBC regrets that the explanation given by the Newsnight editor in his blog was inaccurate or incomplete in some respects,’ the spokesman added.

In a letter to Lord Patten, Mrs Miller said Mr Entwistle's evidence to Parliament and the BBC's handling of the wider scandal raised ‘very real concerns’ about public trust.

The BBC chairman’s reply contained a thinly veiled warning that the Government should not wade into the row. ‘I know that you will not want to give any impression that you are questioning the independence of the BBC,’ he wrote.

But Conservative MP Sir Roger, a former producer and director of current affairs programmes at the BBC, said Lord Patten had made clear that he was ‘out of touch, not only with the strength of feeling and concern in Parliament about the Savile affair and related matters but, more importantly, with the strength of public revulsion at what has happened at Television Centre and with the corporate culture that, for the best part of 40 years, has apparently covered it up’.

‘Attack may be the best form of defence but in seeking to criticise a Culture Secretary who has not ever sought to challenge the independence of the BBC, he indicates how very little, within that corporate arrogance, has really changed,’ he added.

‘The 'Auntie knows best' line simply does not wash any more.

‘BBC management, over far too many years, has sought to maintain an imperious disdain for criticism and it has become clear that successive directors general have, while happy to criticise others for not answering difficult questions, either turned a blind eye to criminal activities or have not known what has been going on on their own doorstep, which is also culpable.

‘It is as if your favourite and respectable aunt has been revealed to be on the game, and if Lord Patten is not able to grasp that, then I fear that not only the director general but also the chairman of the BBC Trust are going to have to fall on their swords.’

Advertisement

Share or comment on this article:

BBC chairman criticises 'misleading' attempt to 'gag' Tory party chairman over Savile scandal hours before he appeared on Question Time